DeMarco Murray enters 2015 as the reigning NFL rushing champion after posting a career high 1845 rushing yards in his final season with the Cowboys. Now a member of the Eagles after signing a lucrative free agent deal in the offseason, Murray’s value has taken a significant hit due to the fact that the Eagles also signed former Chargers’ running back Ryan Mathews to help carry the load. Veteran tailback Darren Sproles is also in the mix as a change-of-pace and third-down back, adding to the reduction in value for Murray.

It remains to be seen how the division of carries will be handled by head coach Chip Kelly and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur. A 60-40 split is possible for first and second down carries, with Sproles working in on third downs. The one certainty about Murray is that he will not reach his 393 carry total from last season that allowed him to post eight-straight 100-yard games to open the season, unless Mathews sustains an injury that forces the Eagles to rely on one back. Although Murray’s value is down from what it was at the end of last season, he is still worthy of an early round selection and could be a nice low-end number one running back for fantasy owners in 2015.

The Eagles plan on dividing the rushing workload between running backs DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews, a far cry from past years when LeSean McCoy carried the load. Eagles OC Pat Shurmur revealed the plan Wednesday although he declined to put a percentage on the way touches would be divvied up.
“They’re two really fine players,” Shurmur said at a coaches availability. “They’re two guys that have been starters in places that they’ve been and they’re going to come here and kind of share the role.” (Delaware County Times)

FFToday's Take:Given the fact that part of HC Chip Kelly's uptempo offensive approach is about keeping the same defenders on the field play after play, he needs a pair of backs like Murray and Mathews to keep the other player fresh. Murray figures to be the leading rusher by a significant margin when all is said and done this year. However, it should come as no surprise if he tops out around 250 carries while Mathews ends up with around 150 carries if both players stay healthy. Both players could flirt with RB1 or flex value depending on the matchup and their injury status.

With DeMarco Murray now in Philly, the only thing that stands in the way of Joseph Randle and a starting job is free agent addition Darren McFadden. Early signs point to Randle having an edge on the job. After watching Murray put up 1,845 yards and 13 touchdowns last season, Randle stated that he felt like "there was a lot of meat left on the bone". (Cowboys Twitter)

FFToday's Take:Rushing behind the best offensive line unit in the NFL, Murray owners cashed in fantasy gold in 2014. Randle is licking his chops looking at the plentiful workload. However, even if he wins the starting gig he would merely be the leader of the dreaded RBBC. Regardless, whoever starts behind that offensive line gets a major fantasy boost and is worthy of an RB2 status.

What is ?Click the icon to add a player to My FF Today Track Players. Track
Players allows you to keep better tabs on players that are most important to you, including your
own custom news page and highlighting your players on stat, projection and ranking pages. Note
you must be logged in to use My FF Today.